Mobile Is The Future Of Everything

Josh Steimle
, SubscriberI cover digital marketing for the entrepreneur as well as the CMO.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

I recently had the chance to interview Sunita Kaur, Director of Asia for Spotify (full interview coming soon) and I walked away convinced more than ever that the future of everything is mobile. The day is soon coming when using a desktop computer that resides in a large box and is attached to a bulky monitor will be the domain of specialists and the laggards of the technology adoption lifecycle--everyone else will use a smartphone and nothing else.

In December, Spotify made a major leap in their mobile strategy by expanding what content is available for free on mobile devices. This has put Spotify at the forefront, at least temporarily, of the streaming music industry, since iTunes and Pandora have yet to match this new offering. During my conversation with Kaur, the term “mobile first” came up multiple times, and it’s clear mobile is factoring more and more into Spotify’s strategy.

Today Statista released the following chart showing how Americans are using mobile to access Facebook and Twitter. Fully 85% of American Twitter users are accessing the site or app on mobile devices, meaning Twitter is effectively becoming a mobile-only company. For Twitter, mobile isn’t the future, it’s already here.

As Mark Rogowsky reported here on Forbes, desktop sales have been in a freefall for years now as users have gravitated to laptop, tablet, and smartphones. The one bright spot for PC makers are mini-desktops, or desktop computers that are more or less small enough to fit in your hand. But how far away are we from the day when even these mini-desktops are eclipsed by the computing power of the everyday smartphone?

Mobile as the future of everything matters because even if you aren’t Twitter, if you don’t already have a mobile strategy you’re implementing, you’re going to be late to the game. You might be tempted to say “Oh, mobile isn’t that important in my industry, we’re a bricks and mortar type of business.” But mobile affects anyone who is selling something. If you own a restaurant, mobile is how people are deciding where to have lunch today and dinner tomorrow. If your business is self storage, people are now reserving storage units online, after they’ve loaded up the truck with junk and are already driving around looking for a facility. If you’re a bank, you better believe people want to do more with your mobile app than just check their balance (I’m looking at you, HSBC Hong Kong). People are using mobile devices to do everything they do, and if there is something they can’t do on their mobile phone, they’re frustrated and ready to leap to the first offering that comes along.

So what should you do? Mobile is about more than just having a responsive website, although that’s important. Apps can also be important, depending on the situation, but you can’t simply release an app and claim to be done with your mobile strategy. My fellow Forbes contributor Jayson Demers recently gave 10 tips for creating a mobile-optimized content marketing strategy. But some of his tips, such as embracing mobile-first as the new mindset and working to understand customers’ mobile habits, apply broadly to any company sorting the right mobile strategy.

Embracing a mobile-first mindset means adopting it within your own company first. Do you use a mobile device as a primary or substantial means of computing? What about your team members? Are you pushing to find ways to manage more of your business through mobile devices? At my company MWI, an online marketing firm, we use the cloud-based project management tool Basecamp from 37signals. I’m out and about in Hong Kong meeting with clients almost every day, and I do a lot of business while standing on the subway, riding in taxis, or waiting in a client’s lobby. I even pull out my phone for the 20 seconds I’m on an escalator or waiting for the street light to change. That’s why I was thrilled to get an email yesterday informing me that 37Signals finally (finally!) has released an app for Android. It will make me and those Android users on my team that much more productive.

When it comes to understanding how your customers use or want to use their mobile device to interact with you, it’s not enough to ask, although you should do that. Get out and watch them. See them using their smartphone as they work and live. No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy, and likewise a host of misconceptions and assumptions will disappear within the first five minutes you spend seeing your customers “in the wild” interacting with your mobile strategy, or lack thereof.

There are some givens when it comes to your mobile strategy. When it comes to marketing, yes, make sure you have a responsive website. If your business is largely driven by geographic factors (dentistry, self storage, dining, etc.) make sure your business shows up on mobile-friendly location services and review sites like Google Maps and Yelp. Explore options for advertising on mobile devices. It’s not for everyone, but it might be a fit for you, and there are new options popping up every day. One of these is ChatAds. Founder Mike Evans says the company “allows brands to place ads in communication apps when the content is relevant to who the user is and what the user is talking about.” For example, if someone in Utah texts, "Hey, don't forget the milk," an ad for the local grocery delivery service Winder Farms might appear, or a chat about mortgages might show an ad for Zions Bank.

As with mobile advertising, building an app may or may not be the right fit for your company, but it’s worth analyzing. More and more, what used to be done on an app can be done on a responsive website, but in some cases an app makes more sense. Just don’t wait for all your competitors to release apps as the sign that you should dive in.

More important than the specific tactics is the mindset, as mentioned above. If you think mobile-first or mobile-only, you’ll start to see the opportunities. If you have a hard time doing this, remember that as a matter of last resort, and as with all confusing technology issues, you can always ask a 10-year old for help.

How are you implementing mobile-first or mobile-only in your company? Tell us in the comments below.

Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur writing about startups, entrepreneurship, and online marketing. Connect with him at: